Dennis Kucinich Switches To “Yes” On Health Care Reform

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced this morning that he will in fact vote for the Senate health care bill. Kucinich’s switch was a major pickup for Democrats who are clinging to a razor thin majority on health care reform and have been struggling to find the votes to get it passed.

“This is not the bill I wanted to support, Kucinich said. “However after careful discussions with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, my wife Elizabeth and friends, I decided to cast a vote in favor of the legislation.”

Kucinich originally voted no on the House version of the bill last fall.

What’s interesting about Kucinich’s decision is that he, more than almost anyone else, represented opposition to the current health care reform approach from the left. Like many on the left, Kucinich would have preferred a single payer system or at least a robust public option. In the end, however, Kucinich came down on the side of pragmatism and “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.” With that, it appears that opposition to health care reform legislation from the left has essentially evaporated, with one notable exception in the blogosphere. Personally, I’m with the pragmatist camp, which I’m amazed to report now includes Dennis Kucinich.

P.S. Among Virginia Democrats, it appears that Rick Boucher is undecided, Tom Perriello is undecided, and Glenn Nye is undecided. Jim Moran and Glenn Scott are definite yes votes, and my guess is that so is Gerry Connolly, but we’ll see…

UPDATE: See here for every representative’s position on health care reform legislation.